I might have overdone it with the white knuckles and clenched jaw. Sebastian was the sexiest person alive, but that didn't mean I wanted to fuck him right here and now.
Amber extracted the needle and taped a cotton ball over the puncture mark with one practiced move. Then, she tossed the needle into a biohazard pouch and tucked it carefully into the side pocket of her bag. "All done. You can still join him, if you want."
"I'll wait here, thanks."
She smirked. "Are you sure you're his mate?"
"Who said I was?"
"He did." She held her hands up in a defensive gesture. "This is the first I've heard of mates. I'm sorry for being crass." She leaned forward and patted my knee. "I hope the blood tests will tell us more. I took some of his blood, too."
"Oh." I felt better knowing she'd poked him in the arm, as well.
She held out her hand again, and I shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Grayson. If you are his mate, I hope to see you around once this mess blows over."
The sharp tang of ocean salt filled my nostrils, and she walked past me toward the scent. I was too overwhelmed to care where she went.
"Hey." Sebastian plopped down into the seat she'd vacated. His hair was still wet, and he wore a fluffy gray full-length bathrobe with a giant "P" embroidered on the right breast. "I found some sweats that might fit you, if you want to take a shower."
"What, no mile-high club?"
He frowned. "No. Why would I … Dr. Amber Maleficent Monroe."
She chortled from somewhere behind me. She reappeared with another glass, this one filled with champagne. "You win. I tried to entice him to join you, but he refused."
"We don't really know each other that well yet." He pinched the bridge of his nose and flashed me an apologetic grin. "Maybe on our return trip, we can break in the old jet."
"Like you haven't slept with hundreds of men." I rolled my eyes.
"Not on the plane," he said. "Or the speedboat, come to think of it."
"Ah, but the yacht!" Amber sank into the seat across from him and clinked their glasses together. "Remember that orgy we threw for your twenty-second birthday?"
Their easy conversation reminded me of the first day at a new foster home. They had history between them, while I was an outsider. Still, their banter was like a train wreck, and I couldn't look away.
"It was not an orgy." Sebastian shook his head, though his face was brightening to the shade of a strawberry. "Lonnie and some friends got carried away, that's all."
"And where were you?" As much as I hated to admit it, Amber asked all the right questions. From her tone, she already knew the answers.
"I was on a video call with my dad. He wanted me to move to SoHo for the summer. When I finally convinced him that wasn't happening, Lonnie and his friends were asleep in my very sticky bed."
She sipped her champagne, looking pleased with herself while Sebastian blushed. He flinched and hopped to his feet, looking anxiously around the cabin.
"I'm so sorry. I've been incredibly rude." He motioned for me to follow him. "Let me show you around the plane. Make yourself at home. There's plenty of time for you to shower and rest before we get to LA."
Amber gave me an encouraging nod beforedowning the rest of her champagne and following us to the middle of the plane with a bar on one side. An eight-seater booth took up the opposite wall. I emptied my untouched water into the sink while she poured herself another glass of champagne.
Sebastian waited for me, looking increasingly embarrassed. Amber hovered over my shoulder, her presence making him more uncomfortable by the moment. I flipped the glass upside down in the dish strainer. The moment I released it, Sebastian grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me past a bathroom and through a door much like the one into the plane's cockpit.
My adrenaline spiked when he slid the lock home. "Welcome to the private cabin. It's not much to look at."
It was more than I'd ever expected to find in the back of an airplane. We walked down a small hallway into a bedroom. The bed took up the entire space between the padded sides of the plane and the wall at the back. Turning, I found a small closet and a standing shower enclosure with a clear plastic curtain.
"Before you ask, yes, it's an unnecessary convenience, but the shower felt wonderful after so many days without."
"I'm not arguing." The thought of washing the last few days in space off my skin once and for all sounded better than a cheeseburger and fries at this point. "Where are you going to be while I shower?"
"Oh. Um …"
